Physics307L F07:People/Rivera/Notebook/070924

Millikan Oil Drop

wikipedia article Oil Drop

^{SJK 23:59, 9 October 2007 (CDT)}

23:59, 9 October 2007 (CDT)
you should say how you measured the plate separation (i.e. with a micrometer of the plate spacer) and how accurate you think you can measure it. How flat is it?

Plate separation = 7.1 mm

Focused the apparatus using focusing wire

Thermal Resist = 1.817 MOhm corresponds to 27 deg C

Voltage 503V

Mineral Oil density = 886 kg/m^3

Barometric Pressure = 2.05172e5 pascals

First Measurements 0.5 mm

^{SJK 00:01, 10 October 2007 (CDT)}

00:01, 10 October 2007 (CDT)
While it is fine to be efficient when taking data and leave off the units, you need to say somewhere that you are measuring things in seconds! Even if you say this in your summary, this information should be in your primary notebook (i.e. when you're taking the data). Imagine that years from now people are looking at your notebook and trying to figure out what you did. Did you use a stop watch? Were there two of you? What are you measuring anyway?

Even hasty notes are better than none, such as "taking data with Brian. he's lookin', i'm using stop watch. using wristwatch thing." From these example notes, you would be able to discern later if there were a difference found depending on who was using the microscope.

Rise	Fall
1.63	33.72
2.71	41.12
1.71	38.1

Second Measurements 0.5 mm

Rise	Fall
1.36	22.37
1.77	26.82
1.60	25.94

Third Measurements 0.5 mm

Rise	Fall
1.29	9.41
2.82	9.70
2.67	20.59

Summary of First day

I felt that we gained a lot of experience with the device. Getting good measurements seems to be a matter of practice with the device. I feel that we will be able to gain a lot more information when we go back on the second day. We will spend our time taking data to be analyzed after class.